WASHINGTON - Vice President Kamala Harris broke a nearly 200-year-old record for casting the most tie-breaking votes in the Senate when she voted Tuesday to confirm a new federal judge in Washington, D.C.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, called Vice President Harris’ 32nd tie-breaking vote a “great milestone.”

The previous record holder was John C. Calhoun, who cast 31 tie-breaking votes during his eight years as vice president, from 1825 to 1832. Vice President Harris, a Democrat, tied Mr. Calhoun’s record in July.

Sen. Schumer presented Vice President Harris with a golden gavel after Tuesday’s vote. Vice President Harris, who beamed as she made history from the Senate dais, said she was “truly honored.”

Casting tiebreaker votes is among the only constitutional duties for vice presidents, and Vice President Harris has been repeatedly called on to break deadlocks because the Senate is closely divided between Democrats and Republicans.

The pace of Vice President Harris’ votes dropped off this year, when Democrats expanded their slim majority in the Senate by a single seat. But she still managed to surpass Mr. Calhoun’s record in less than half the time that he took to set it.

Vice President Harris has helped advance the American Rescue Plan, which was a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief measure, and the Inflation Reduction Act, which limited the costs of prescription drugs and created financial incentives or clean energy.

Most of Vice President Harris’ votes have involved President Biden’s judicial nominees. On Tuesday, she boosted Loren AliKhan’s nomination to be a U.S. District Court judge.

Sen. Schumer credited Vice President Harris with helping to confirm more women and people of color to the bench to help make the judiciary “look more like America.”